What the US Construction Industry Needs: More Rosie the Riveters

Industries such as semiconductors, defense, aerospace, machinery and automotive are planning $400 billion in new US projects through 2027. To complete them, they need 200,000 to 300,000 additional skilled workers including electricians, machinists, welders, and pipefitters. US construction spending is expected to rise to about $1 trillion over the next five to ten years. Add in the $1.2 trillion Congress approved for infrastructure in 2021, and the construction industry will obviously need many more workers. But it is having difficulty finding them—construction-related job postings were unfilled for an average of 33 days in 2022, compared to 24 days in 2019.

There is an answer to filling this gap: women. And there is precedent: Rosie the Riveter. She was the centerpiece of an iconic 1943 poster that celebrated the women who kept US industry humming when millions of American men were called to war. After the war, though, most of these skilled workers either left or were pushed out of these jobs. Now, however, it is clear that women can help fill labor shortages—and there are good reasons for them to do so. 

A Fulfilling Alternative

Specifically, women dominate a number of occupations such as administrative assistants, customer service, and food service, that are vulnerable to automation. Construction trades offer a fulfilling alternative that pays well: an average of $29 an hour for construction electricians and pipe fitters, for example.

But women only account for one in nine construction jobs—and that includes positions spanning from administration to management. For the construction trades specifically, the figure is only 4.5 percent—up from 3.5 percent a decade ago, but still very low. Women can help fill construction labor shortages, while moving into well-paid jobs with a future.

It is certainly possible for women to make inroads in male-dominated industries. For instance, the number of women at a global oil and gas company increased from 24.3 percent to 30.3 percent in 2019, after a conscious effort to develop and recruit more women. In the United States, almost a quarter of oil industry workers are female.

Exposure, Training, Recruitment

So, how can women be encouraged to enter the construction trades?

To start, the industry can help increase girls’ and women’s exposure. There are some programs that do this. For example, Massachusetts Girls in Trades, a partnership of unions, schools, local governments, and contractors, offers workshops for school counselors so they can help girls become aware of the opportunities in the building trades. The National Association for Women in Construction provides mentors and scholarships. There are other examples, too, but there are simply not enough of them, on a big enough scale.

The next step is for women to obtain the skills to succeed. Competition to enter apprenticeship programs, particularly union-sponsored ones, is fierce, and men have a head start because they are more likely to see these as a future. Because there are so few women in the industry, girls and women have less access to mentors or role models.

Pre-apprenticeship programs can help recruit women and keep them on course. Examples include nonprofits such as Oregon Tradeswomen, Chicago Women in Trades, and New York’s Nontraditional Employment for Women. Girls and women who participate in these programs go on field trips, listen to guest speakers, and learn basic skills. There is evidence that such efforts can work: the percentage of women in registered construction trade apprenticeships in Massachusetts has doubled since 2012, to 10.3 percent. While these examples are heartening, a much broader industry-wide collaboration is needed to bring in women in large numbers.  

Once on the job, women need to be retained and promoted, and this is not happening as much as it should. More than half (57 percent) of women in construction surveyed in 2022 said they were seeking a new job, much higher than the national average (37 percent).

One reason is that too often women are not treated with dignity and fairness. In the 2021 IWPR Tradeswomen’s Retention and Advancement Survey of more than 2,600 US tradeswomen, the most common  reason they gave for considering leaving was harassment and discrimination: three-quarters said this was somewhat or very important. In terms of hiring, promotion, work assignments, and being treated with respect, less than half of respondents said they were frequently or always treated equally. Two-thirds faced sexual harassment on occasion.

Finally, women in construction have a particularly difficult time with childcare; they are much more likely than those in other industries to say it is a factor that affects their work performance. Only half say they have employment-based access to childcare of any kind (backup support, subsidies, or on-site provision).

Pressing Need

And yet, despite everything, women in trades love the work—particularly the camaraderie (78 percent) and the pay (88 percent).

Given the pressing need for skilled workers, the case to bring in more women is overwhelming—and to everyone’s benefit. This brings us back to Rosie the Riveter. Women were not only riveters, but welders, electricians, machinists, and, yes, construction workers. They were needed during the war, and they succeeded. And they can do so again—to their benefit and that of the construction industry.

Katy Bartlett is an associate partner in McKinsey & Company’s Denver office. Nora Gardner is a senior partner in Washington, DC.